


The River

by MCM



Series: The Next Herald Mage [3]
Category: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 10:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4702412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCM/pseuds/MCM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why Rolan doesn't MindSpeak with Talia.  From approximately the middle of Arrows of the Queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The River

Rolan had decided that there was a certain etiquette to be observed in escorting a young woman to her death. 

He scrupulously avoided euphemisms like "fate" or "doom." He also avoided ridiculous suggestions, like "I'm sure it's not so bad" and "look on the bright side." And he absolutely could not say the words he most wanted to. "I'll keep you safe" was an outright lie, and "I'm sorry it has to be this way" was more truth than she could bear. "I've loved you for more than five hundred years and I never thought it would come to this" was more truth than Rolan could bear. As open as his heart was to her, he couldn't imagine speaking to her at all without baring his entire soul. 

When she had first been Chosen, Talia had been too young to MindSpeak. Older than Jisa was when she learned, but Jisa had advantages that Talia had not. Jisa would have offered Rolan a list of them if she could. It would have included love, and educational opportunities, and proper nutrition. Jisa was deeply moved by educational opportunities and proper nutrition, which was, of course, why she was Talia now. She could probably MindSpeak by now, but she wouldn't believe she could unless she Spoke with her Companion, and the risk was too great for Rolan to take. 

He showed her her lifebonded early, and protected her as best he could. He showed her his feelings, his distractions. He buried his thoughts too deep for her to find them. He drowned them underneath a river of love. 

A river of love, he found, could be something other than an excessively emotional metaphor. 

Rolan felt the image ran the risk of being a little too literal when Talia screamed to him from the ice of the Terilee. It grieved him deeply that his Choosing had exposed her to an assassination attempt. She was older than Jisa had been, the first time, but Talia was so much less protected. Rolan had never expected her enemies to use children as killers. 

But Rolan was reassured, too. If she was to be a martyr for Valdemar, Talia could absolutely not be permitted to die for anything else. In the future, he would have to sacrifice her, to let her die andforce himself to Choose again. For now, he had to protect her. From everything. He tore down all the barriers between them, opening himself to her vision and her emotions without limitation. He would never be cut off. She would never be alone again. She would not die for the wrong reasons. He could protect her now, and think about the time when he could not protect her afterwards. 

MindSpeech was beyond him, but he gave her everything else.


End file.
